A revolution is underway in the archaeology of Copper Age Iberia. Over the past 20 years, the discovery and excavation of enclosure sites, such as Valencina de la Concepción, Marroquíes Bajos and Perdigões, and large interdisciplinary investigations, often stimulated by development works, are reshaping our understanding of long-distance regional interactions and social complexity in the third millennium BC. This lavishly illustrated volume on the Montelirio megalith, dated to c. 2800 BC, is an excellent example of this new research.
Discovered in 1998 and excavated between 2007 and 2010, Montelirio is a tholos tomb associated with the enclosure site of Valencina de la Concepción-Castilleja de Guzmán, in Andalucia, Spain. Montelirio overlooks the fertile Guadalquivir Valley and is located just a few hundred metres from other important contemporaneous tombs, including La Pastora, Matarubilla, Ontiveros and the awkwardly named Structure 10.042–10.049 del Sector PP4-Montelirio. Hundreds of other unexplored structures have been identified in its vicinity. This volume, edited by Álvaro Fernández Flores, Leonardo García Sanjuán and Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, includes 22 chapters organised into five sections: introduction and contextualisation, architecture, material culture, organic deposits and interpretation. The chapters, written by scholars from Spain, Germany, the UK and the USA, include abstracts in both English and Spanish. A range of cutting-edge methodologies and technologies, including geophysical survey, raw materials sourcing, isotope studies, geomorphological analyses and Bayesian statistics, have been brought to bear on the site and provide tantalising new glimpses into landscape use, ritual, identity, power, trade, gender and artistic expression in Copper Age Iberia.
Although in overall plan—an atrium, an east-facing corridor, a large chamber and a smaller annexed chamber—the architectural organisation of Montelirio can be viewed as relatively ‘simple’, the site is exceptional in every other way. Its linear extent, for example, is greater than any other prehistoric burial monument known in the Iberian Peninsula. Its corridor, 39m in length, was divided into three sections, and made up of slabs of slate, granite and sandstone painted red with cinnabar (the nearest sources of which are 270km to the north-east, in Almadén). To move through parts of the corridor, an adult would have had to crawl. Altars and offerings were placed along the corridor, as were human burials (mostly secondary). The corridor led into a large chamber, nearly 5m in diameter, made of slate slabs painted with designs using cinnabar. A decorated clay stela was found on the floor, with offerings, and at least 20 adults, most if not all female, were laid to rest in primary burials. The dome of the chamber was possibly of clay, which would be unique in Iberia. A tumulus, 75m in diameter, covered the corridor and chambers.
Among the artefacts found at Montelirio is an abundance and variety of goods rarely seen in prehistoric Europe. The largest assemblage of amber objects known in Iberia was recovered from the site: 250 beads and pendants (the site with the next largest assemblage of amber is Los Millares, in Almeria, with 10 objects). The amber appears to have come from Sicily. Eighteen embossed gold sheets were found, some with the same ocular motif seen on ceramics and slate plaques at other south Iberian sites. An estimated one million beads, made of shell and stone, were found in close association with the individuals in the large chamber; they were most probably sewn into burial clothing or shrouds, which have not survived. Also recovered were around 200 exquisitely flaked hollow-based arrowheads made of flint and rock crystal, which, as with most of the other flaked lithics at the site, show no signs of use. The large number (100+) of animal figurines, combs and other items made from African ivory further attests to the social distinctiveness and regional connections enjoyed by the Montelirio community.
All this labour was apparently devoted to the memorialisation of, minimally, 26 individuals, the majority of whom were female. No children have been identified, in contrast with most other Copper Age burials in Iberia. There are no signs of traumatic injuries, although some pathologies (enamel hypoplasia and periostitis) are present; one individual had polydactyly (6 digits). Isotope studies indicate their diet consisted primarily of terrestrial resources. High levels of mercury (from the cinnabar) were detected in the bones of many of the individuals, which must have been absorbed while they were alive. A fuller bioanthropological report (Pecero Espín et al. Reference Pecero Espín, Guijo Mauri and Lacalle Rodríguez2012) was prepared prior to this monograph, which may explain why the presentation of the human remains here is rather brief and poorly integrated into the discussion of the site and its social history. This is unfortunate as, given the spectacular nature of the site and its finds, the reader will be naturally curious about the people to whom all this attention was given. It is also unfortunate that the 2012 reference is not included in the chapter's bibliography.
The greatest strengths of the volume are the stunning photographs of the site and its finds, many in colour, and the beautifully rendered plans and reconstructions. The maps and charts that compare Montelirio with other contemporaneous sites in Iberia are also particularly useful, as they illustrate the distinctiveness of the site. Other than the summary bioanthropological chapter, additional weaknesses include labelling that is sometimes too small to read (e.g. figs 6 & 7 in Chapter 4) and the map (fig. 1) in Chapter 1, where the site of Zambujal is incorrectly located.
Overall, however, this monograph, as with Montelirio itself, represents an impressive feat of monumental labour, drawing together the specialised skills of a large and diverse team.
